Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-04-30


Just then he caught sight of john Mel and
checked himself
II have come to look for black OK,
branded with heart and w inside of the
heart. Do you know if your uncle has seen it
on the place anywhere
NO MeinEeer Muller" replied Bessie.
coldly, but he is down there, pointing at a
kraal on the plain some half mile away, .'if
you want to, so and ask about it"
Mr. Muller" said he, by way of correction,
and with curious contraction of the brow
" 'Meinheer' is all very well for the Beers. but
we are all Englishmen now. Wen, the OK
can wait. With your permission, TIL stop
here till Dom Croft Uncle Croft comes
back" and, without further ado, he jumped
off his horse and, slipping the reins over It's
head as an indication to it to stand still. ad-
vanced toward Bessie with outstretcbed hand.
As he did so the young lady plunged both her
arms up to the elbows i'll the bath, and ii
struck John, who was observing the whole
scene, that she did this in order to avoid the
necessity of shaking hands with her stalwart
visitor.
Sorry my hands ars wet, she said, giving
him cold little nod. LET me introduce YOU
Mr. with emphasis Frank MuIler-Capt.
Mel who has come to help my unrle with
the place"
John stretched out his hand and Muller
shook it.
Captain" he said, interrogatively; - ship
captain, l suppose"
No" said John, "a captain of the English
army"
"Oh, rooibattje (red Jacket. Well,
don't wonder at your taking to farming after
the Zulu war"
u don't quite understand you" said John;
rather coldly.
"Oh, no offense captain no offense. ]
only meant that you rooibaatje did not come
very well out of the war was there with
Pet Uys ard it was a sight, ] can tell you.
A Zulu had only to show himself at night and
one would see your regiments skreck tstam-
pedel like span of oxen when they wind
lion And then they'd lire-aI, they did fire
anyhow, anywhere, hut mostly at the
clouds, there was no stopping them; and so,
you see, thought That you would like to turn
your sword into a ploughshare, as the Bible
says-but no offcnse, I'm sure-no oflense."
All this while John Mel, being English to
his backbone, and cherishing the reputation
of bis profession almost as dearly as his own
honor, was boiling with inward wrath, which
was all the tiercer because he knew that there
was some truth in the Beers insults He had
the sense, however, to keep his temper-out-
wartlly, at airy rate.
a was not in the Zulu war, Mr. Muller"
he SAID, and just then old Silas Croft came
riding up, and the conversation dropped
Mr. EranE MYt1i rtn To nj
far on into the afternoon. His lost OK seemed
TO have entirely slipped his memory. There
he sat close to the fair Bessie, smoking and
drinking gin and water, and talking with
great volubility in English, sprinkled with
BOer Dutch terms that John Mel did not
understand, and gazing at the young lady in
manner which John somehow found I'M
pleasant. OF course it was no affair of his,
and he had no interest in the matter, but for
all that he found the remarkable looking
Dutchman exceedingly disagreeable. At last,
indeed, he could stand it 10 longer, and hob
bled out Tor a little walk with Jess who, in
her abrupt way, offered to show him the
garden
"Iou don't like that manm she said to him.
as they slowly went down the slope in front
of the house.
No; do your
a think" replied jess, slowly and with
much emphasis, that he is the most odious
man that | ever saw, and the NEST curious"
And then she relapsed into silence only
broken now and again by an occasional re-
mark about the flowers and trees
Half an hour afterward when they arrived
again at the top of the slope, Mr. Muller was
just riding off down the avenue of blue
gums. By the veranda stood 3 Hottentot
named Jantje. who had been holding tie
Dutchman's horse He was curious, wizened
up little fellow, dressed in rags, and with
hair like the worn tags of black wooden
carpet. His age might have been anything